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On Sunday, attorneys for California professor Christine Blasey Ford said she has agreed to testify before a Senate panel on Thursday morning about her sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. This news comes after a week of developments that cast doubt on the Senate’s confirmation of Kavanaugh, once considered a safe bet. Ford has said that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party 36 years ago. Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge, has denied the allegations and said he would be willing to testify. “Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her,” said the statement from her attorneys Debra Katz, Lisa Banks and Michael Bromwich. The hearing is set for 10 a.m. on Thursday. ...Read more

An arrest has been made in the stabbing death of a jogger in a Washington neighborhood, a week after she became engaged. 35-year-old Wendy Karina Martinez was stabbed multiple times in Logan Circle on Tuesday night. On Thursday, authorities announced the arrest of suspect Anthony Crawford. He was charged with first-degree murder while armed. Crawford, a D.C. resident with a criminal past, was found Wednesday with the help of surveillance footage and tips from the public, said D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham. Crawford, 23, was not cooperative with police and had a hand injury when he was apprehended, Newsham said. “We feel very confident that we have in our custody the person responsible for this murder,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Newsham said there’s no information to suggest the victim and suspect knew each other or any evidence to suggest it was a robbery. He described the stabbing as an “unprovoked attack,” adding that investigators had not determined a motive. Martinez can be seen on surveillance video from Tuesday night stumbling into a restaurant near the 1400 block of 11th Street NW in search of help. The restaurant’s manager called police, and Martinez was taken to a hospital where she died from her injuries a short time later, police said. Wendy Martinez’s family said in a statement that Martinez had gotten engaged last week, and described her as “an avid runner … a devout Christian, a wonderful friend, and a driven professional.” ...Read more

Multiple people were killed Thursday in a shooting on the campus of a Rite Aid distribution center in Harford County, Maryland, authorities said. The female suspect was taken into custody and is in critical condition at a local hospital, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler said at a news conference Thursday. The shooting was reported just after 9 a.m. Thursday at the Liberty Support facility, which is part of a Rite Aid distribution center. The facility is located just south of Aberdeen, Maryland. Gahler said multiple people were dead and injured. Dr. Raymond Fang, medical director at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Trauma, said four adults were brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds Authorities say all the shots fired inside the facility came from a single handgun. No shots were fired by law enforcement.  There is no additional threat to the area, officials say.  The shooting comes nearly a year after a gunman opened fire inside his workplace in Edgewood, Maryland, shooting five people, killing three. Edgewood is located about 10 miles from Aberdeen.  ...Read more

Five people were wounded Wednesday morning when a gunman opened fire in a small Wisconsin city, police said. Middleton Police Chief Charles Foulke said police received a call of a shooting at 10:25 a.m. at a building housing several businesses. The shooting occurred in the offices of WTS Paradigm, a business products software company, where “officers engaged the suspect, and he was shot by officers,” Foulke said. A witness said that he recognized the gunman as someone who worked in the building. Other employees in the building told the station that they went into a windowless room and called 911. Judy Lahmers, a business analyst for WTS Paradigm, told The Associated Press that she was at her desk when she heard the gunshots. She ran out of the building and hid behind a car.  Middleton is a little more than 90 miles west of Milwaukee. The motive for the shooting is not yet known.  ...Read more

Federal prosecutors in Maryland indicted three men Wednesday on charges of bilking more than 400 investors of $364 million in an elaborate Ponzi scheme. Victims were small business owners, pro-athletes, doctors, and lawyers in Maryland and throughout the nation. Prosecutors charged Kevin Merrill, 53 of Towson, Jay Ledford, 54, of Nevada, and Camerson Jezierski, 28 of Texas, with conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering. US Attorney for Maryland Robert Hur said “the defendants lured their victims with promises of an investment opportunity that seemed too good to be true. Unfortunately, it was too good to be true.” According to the indictment the three spent approximately $75 million they made from the scheme to buy six luxury homes in Maryland and Florida, multiple automobiles, expensive jewelry, boats and shares of a plane, and they gambled away $25 million at casinos. The Baltimore division of the FBI is looking for more victims to come forward as the investigation is ongoing. Merill and Ledford have detention hearings scheduled for later this week, and Jezierski was released but expected to appear in Baltimore federal court Monday. ...Read more

As rivers continue to rise in North Carolina — several of them at record levels — on Tuesday, officials warned of flooding and hazards in areas already ravaged by historic rainfall produced by former Hurricane Florence. Florence made landfall as a Category 1 on Friday before it was downgraded, but is lingering along the East Coast days later, spawning deadly tornadoes and threatening downpours across the Northeast. In Fayetteville, about 100 miles from the North Carolina coast, the Cape Fear River was anticipated to crest by early Wednesday, reaching nearly 62 feet — about 4 feet higher than during Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and close to double its flood-stage level.  The Cape Fear River is expected to remain at flood stage through the weekend, and city officials said in a statement on Tuesday that “even though the heavy rains have ended, the flood hazard to life and property is real. Do not become complacent.” President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit parts of North Carolina on Wednesday, the White House said. ...Read more

President Donald Trump declassified documents relating to the early days of the FBI’s Russia investigation, including a portion of a secret surveillance warrant application and former FBI Director James Comey’s text messages. Trump made this move Monday in response to calls from his allies in Congress who say they believe the Russia investigation was tainted by anti-Trump bias within the ranks of the FBI and Justice Department. Trump’s decision will result in the release of text messages and documents involving several top Justice Department and FBI officials who Trump has repeatedly attacked over the last year. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Trump’s decision in a written statement, saying the president had directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department to declassify the documents “at the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency.” It was unclear how soon the documents would be released. ...Read more

President Trump on Monday defended his latest nominee to the Supreme Court as “somebody very special” but said “we want to go through a full process … and hear everybody out” regarding the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. Said Trump, “if it takes a little delay, it’ll take a little delay. I’m sure it will work out very well.” Trump has not spoken to Kavanaugh about the allegation but called a question about whether the judge has offered to withdraw from consideration “ridiculous.” On Monday, Kavanaugh responded to an allegation by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school in Maryland in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denied the woman’s allegation, saying in the statement released by the White House that “this is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone.” He continued, “I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.” Some senators meanwhile called for both Kavanaugh and Ford to address the matter before lawmakers. ...Read more

Republican Rep. Chris Collins will remain on the ballot in November despite suspending his re-election bid last month, his attorney confirmed Monday.  Mark Braden, Collins’ attorney, cited possible legal challenges that could result from efforts to remove Collins from the ballot. Collins faces charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and false statements related to alleged insider trading. Collins has rejected the charges as “meritless” and vowed to fight them. However, he last month announced that he would suspend his re-election campaign, saying he believed his decision was in the “best interests” of his constituents. National and state Republican officials had hoped to replace Collins on the ballot in light of his legal troubles,, but now his decision to move forward with his re-election could put his solidly Republican seat in jeopardy. ...Read more

The woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during their teenage years has identified herself in a report from The Washington Post, speaking bout the allegations publicly for the first time. Her account of the situation was detailed in a confidential letter sent to Democratic lawmakers. On Sunday, the Post identified Kavanaugh’s accuser as Christine Blasey Ford, 51, a research psychologist in northern California. After the report was published Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley to delay the confirmation vote “until, at a very minimum, these serious and credible allegations are thoroughly investigated.” Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., also called for the vote to be postponed. Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote Sunday, “I support Mrs. Ford’s decision to share her story, and now that she has, it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee.” The Judiciary panel is currently scheduled to hold a vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination on Thursday. GOP leaders have been aiming to have him confirmed as a Supreme Court justice before high court’s new term begins in October. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, saying in a statement, “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.” ...Read more